BigDawg, welcome to the group. Its cool to see someone who's experienced the exitement of how much better their grilled food tastes after discovering Steven Raichlen's books, show, and website.
I couldn't believe how good my food was and I've just scratched the surface.
If you tell most people "This grilling cookbook changed my life." they'll look at you like you joined a cult. Its cool when you see someone else impacted like you've been though.
Considering I'll be cooking and eating my whole life, I hope this barbecue thing is more than a temporary obsessive-compulsive phase I'm going through.
BigDawg, have you thrown any real wood in that Weber yet? It's not limited to charcoal. You have one of the most versatile cooking devices ever invented.
By the way, BBcue-Z and I live in the Atlanta area too. Its awesome to see more locals.

Welcome Big Dawg! Two cooking devices in less than a month, I can see you have a serious addiction, you'll fit right in here. The only thing is, do you have enough room for the rest of the arsenal you will aquire? I see a horiz. smoker, maybe a tow behind, and you'll see the usefulness of having a gasser around, for those rainy days and when the temps start to drop off in the fall. I hope your kitchen has enough storage space for the things that will appear, the spice grinder, all those little bottles with the secret spices and rubs that you'll have to try out, an extra drawer or two for all those neat little gadgets that follow you home. Start thinking about a trailer hitch for the truck, you are going to end up needing it any way.

Just remember patios aren't for sitting on, they are for storing the grills and smokers with covers so they don't get wet. A deck box is an excellent storage spot for the great buy on the 10 bags of extra special lump charcoal that jumped into the bed of the truck on your way home. Start convincing your Lady that the patio is actually an extentsion of the kitchen and is to be used as such. It helps as you get further involved in the addiction.

A few years ago I was a gas griller myself (and, no, I didn't have a Summit Gold D with the ultracool smoker box and rotisserie element- more's the pity- but I'm still fairly young....). Occasionally I'd use a store-bought cast iron smoker brick for smoke flavor, but it never got hot enough to really kick out the smoke. Smoker pouches were much the same. Marinade was something that happened when I spilled a can of beer on the grill, and most of my sauces came out of a bottle with "Heinz" or "Kraft" on the label. (Not that I'm knocking these two companies whatsoever- I still use these brands of sauce sometimes).

Enter Steven Raichlen and his books.....

Now the gas grill is what my brother-in-law uses, while I've gone back to using the water smoker, the hibachi, and the customized split oil drum for big occasions. I still use my own gas grill, but not nearly as much as before.

My local butcher knows me by name. The guys at the local BBQ store sometimes ask me for advice, My storage shed is loaded with 10- and 20- bags full of different woods. Friends save me corn cobs in the summer and pecan shells in the winter (from the nuts at Christmas). Other friends in orchard country drop off apple and cherry wood when they're in town. I've even played around with making my own lump charcoal.

My brother-in-law swears by his gas grill.. He also swears at his gas grill a lot. He won't even touch a smoker pouch, his veggies are all done strictly in foil pouches, his asparagus comes out of a tin can, and his corn is boiled.

Guess who gets asked do the cooking at the annual family picnic? I'll give you a hint: my brother-in-law has hairy arms and I don't anymore.

(Things may change, though. I got the brother-in-law a copy of BBQ USA for Christmas last year. Maybe there will be two Grillaholics instead of just me here.)

Long live local butcher shops! Long live charcoal! And especially- LONG LIVE THE GRILL!!!

Yes, mah name is Big Belly and I am a true addict. As we all convene here today I stand before you in all my nakedness, pouring out my heart for all to see. I cannot help myself, the addiction runs deep within my veins. And to my poor wife, as my pants size expand ever more then they have before, she frantically trys to make adjustments to accommodate the girth. The name from my youth "skin and bones" no longers applies as my old school mates cannot even recognize me anymore. I have shamed myself and my body with greasy, sauce slathered, char grilled, smokey goodness known as barbecue.

*falls to his knees with tears in his eys*

Will I ever break the chains of the sweet smells of the wood burning, the vinagery tastes of the sauce or the fragrant wafts of smoked spices as they hit my nose!

*spots a pulled pork sandwich. Slowly he makes his way over to the delight and gets a tight grip on the sandwich.*

Maybe I can wait another day to redeem myself from this addition.

There is always next week, year, lifetime. Who needs tofu, WE HAVE BARBECUE!!!

You can cook pretty much anything you want on a gas grill, but it will never taste like you cooked it over charcoal .... Scott

Thats right, it will be much more convient and if you have a Summit Gold D you will still get smokey taste....

True. But it still won't taste like you cooked it over charcoal. There's a reason that the most famous Q joints and championship competitors use charcoal. It's all about the taste man, it's all about the taste.